hello, i'll be traveling from colorado to marco next friday, 1/17, to visit my aunt and was thinking of bringing along my kite in the hopes of getting some riding in. i've never kited in the area but tigertail park keeps coming up in my research. any advice on windalert/windguru boey accuracy, my biggest kite is an 8m (130lb female). full suit this time of year? thanks for any info you can pass on!

Definitely some great kiting there! Bring your gear fro sure. Been a while for me, lots of people from Naples go down when the wind is right. I will PM contact info for somebody who can steer you on the direction. You also might be able to get a bigger kite up in Naples to use if you need it.

If you are going to walk to the north end of the park where you can kite in the lagoon, carefully plan what you can carry. Gear plus water and food if there all day. It is about a 1.3 mile walk through the lagoon, sand and beach. Else, find a friend with a boat, that's definitely the luxury way of getting to the kite spots.

I guess most important is fresh drinking water. Up at the kiting area it is desolate, no fresh water unless you intrude on one of the properties on the other side of the lagoon.

On a NW wind, the lagoon has nice flat water and clean wind coming over the low dunes. Last time I was there, lots of kiters and some 'traffic' interference, but nothing major. On the outside (gulf of Mexico), lots of messy waves and chop. Didn't look appealing to me but some folks were out there having fun.

Some of the braver ones did ocean side down-winders back to the parking lot with empty kite backpack on back.

Have fun! After the overhead to get there, there is some great kiting if the wind is right.

I hope you get some good frontal winds from the W to NW. This may or may not happen. If you can fit it in, you might consider a day trip to Miami as easterly winds are more common and it isn't that far away.

Regarding Tigertail, there are some restrictions and years long threats to access there.

this is my first time posting on kiteforum and i can't tell you how much i appreciate the responses. every little bit helps when heading to a new spot. i'm packing my kite, my 4/3 cause i'm a wuss in cold water, good logistical info and even a local contact, thanks everyone!

Ironically, I was just at Tigertail Park for the first time yesterday. I came over for the Naples Kiteboarding Reunion set up by Enrique and his son Jan, the local kite shop, http://www.naplesfloridakiteboarding.com. These are good guys who have long worked to maintain access to this unique but fragile wildlife area. The wind should be ok per the forecast tomorrow, Saturday.** It is then supposed to ease off for several days until the next cold front comes along.

It is a long walk in there, almost three miles if you stay on land the whole way looping south around the lagoon to the northern area where folks kite in all tides. You can cut across the lagoon from the parking area at low tide I understand. I did it around 4 am around high tide and have no idea about that. You aren't allowed to kite in the bird sanctuary (south of the bend in the shoreline with all the signs), which includes the southern area of the park as depicted on the satellite image above.

The high tomorrow is supposed to be 63 F. The air temp when I was there varied from about 60 to 50 F. I froze my butt off with a full 5/4 and heat seeker top at 50 F, we all did including the guys who live there. You may want to carry in some dry clothes to change into after your session and before walking back. It is a great place to kite, you really should do it. Some photos from yesterday.

The extreme northern end of the sand bar

One of two bald eagles I saw around the area. The eagle is the lower central part of the frame. This is part of the sand bar a bit further south from the section shown above.

A pair of dolphins even showed up. I had hoped to get them interested in some jumping with me but no go this time. Here is a short clip from the encounter.